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Impressive third-place finish for St. Michael’s junior Justin Angel

An event of numerous 5-kilomer races, the championship run is the premier event, with the Horsemen placing eighth as a team

Commentary by Arnie Leshin

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

Lenny Gurule was so confident of Justin Angel, he entered his St. Michael’s boys in the Championship race Friday night at the annual Desert Twilight Classic run at Casa Grande, Ariz.

There are numerous different races, but the championship run is the premier event and head coach Gurule wasn’t disappointed as Angel ran 15:45.4 for the 5 kilometers and finished third against a strong field of runners from several states.

Senior Jacob Lewis of Boulder Creek, Ariz., finished first in 15:20.2 and Senior Matthew Bradley of Prescott, Ariz., was runner-up in 15:37.5.

Angel is a junior and one of the favorites for the 4A state championships in November. He has won four times in New Mexico and finished seventh in the prestigious UNM Invitational.

But this was most impressive and under the lights. He did not get away to a fast start, running the first mile in 5:17 and not among the front runners. But he covered the second mile in 4:58 and settled in with the leaders.

As a team, the Horsemen ran well in scoring 323 points and placing eighth. As a team, they timed 1:24.59.

Junior Eli Steward turned in a time of 16:24 and came in 23rd. Junior Adrian Veruete-Maya took 49th in 16:55, junior Wesley Stenberg was 118th and clocked 17:47, and the fifth man was sophomore Justin Sanchez, who finished 150th in 18:07.

There was also freshman Valentino Calabaza running 18:41 for 193rd and the lone senior, Dominic Smith, was 214th in 19:35.

Steward covered the first mile in 5:24 and went 5:11 in mile number two. Veruete-Maya went 5:30 for the first mile and 5:27 for two miles. Stenberg’s time for the initial mile was 5:35 and raced 5:31 in mile two. Sanchez turned in a time of 5:40 after one mile and 5:53 after that.

Steward was right up there with Angel after one mile, but Angel stepped up the pace after that. Angel finished well, with the next three harriers within six seconds behind him. The first nine runners went under 16 minutes.

Junior Elias Wuffinden was entered in the Small School Open and finished 208th in 22:58.

Freshmen Dennis Ortiz and Gabe McMahon did the Small School race for freshmen, with Ortiz running 22:59 for 56th place and McMahon 36:08 to take 119th.

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